Valtteri Bottas was happy to accept third place after a tricky weekend at the Mexican Grand Prix.
The Finn made up for a steady start which saw him drop down the field initially and was involved in the scuffle with Max Verstappen at the stadium hairpin that resulted in the Dutchman’s puncture.
Once in clear air, however, the pace of the Mercedes and the right strategy set Bottas on his way to a solid result following his hefty qualifying crash.
“It feels good. It was a pretty disappointing day yesterday and considering where we started, it was a strong day,” he stated.
“I think we really maximised the strategy with both cars today and also from my side, it felt like a strong race, so actually I really enjoyed it.
“It’s just a shame there was no opportunity for any overtakes at the end, even with a good pace, but you pay the price for a bad qualifying.”
The pace of Mercedes was one of the big surprises after their issues in Mexico in recent years, as Bottas pushed Sebastian Vettel for second for most of the race.
However, the three-time winner this season was unable to get close enough to make any kind of passing attempt.
“Once you get within 1.5 seconds, it’s so difficult to close in on those corners, especially in the last sector,” Valtteri claimed.
“To pass the Ferrari we would need to be so close to overtake them on the straight, so it was nearly impossible, but it could have been a lot worse.”
With most predicting tyre degradation would dominate the race based on practice, Bottas also had a theory for the lack of issues most teams had.
“We had a better tyre life than we predicted, we thought it was going to be a two-stop at least,” he said.
“[In the end,] it was an easy one-stop, so the tyre life was better. Maybe the warmer track temp today helped us.”
His third-place also ensured the championship continues for seven more days at least, with Hamilton only needing to finish seventh in Austin to secure his sixth F1 title.